The aim of this conference is to bring together a group of international experts in the field of molecular control of adipocyte formation and function to discuss strategies to combat obesity and related disorders. The conference will occur simultaneously with "Diabetes Mellitus: Molecular Signaling, Genes and Therapeutics" and, consequently, will cover many important topics relating to the present day epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In past years, this meeting has attracted approximately 300-400 conferees from a variety of multidisciplinary backgrounds including academia, clinical professionals and the private sector (pharmaceutical and biotechnology). Speakers have been chosen and will continue to be selected on the basis of their expertise, interests and our desire to adequately represent women and minorities at this conference. It is also our intention to give young investigators the opportunity to present their data on the platform, in addition to inviting some of the standard list of prominent speakers. There will be 10 major scientific sessions (5 will be joint sessions with the Diabetes meeting), each with 3-4 invited talks of ca 30 mins (20+10 discussion). There will also be two additional sessions held in the afternoon referred to as "Hot Topics" which will contain 4-5 short talks selected from the abstracts. The goal of including these talks is to give young investigators the opportunity to communicate their latest "hot" data, and the funds requested in this application will help defray the costs of these young scientists to attend the meeting. The topics of controversy, uncertainty and agreement within each of the areas presented will be defined and discussed in the ample discussion periods set aside for this purpose. The conference will provide a unique opportunity for interaction between scientists from different backgrounds who have overlapping interests, and it will stimulate collaborative research efforts among partcipants, as well as help to identify and set future goals for research in the area of adipogenesis and obesity.